


On July 4th

by christinefromsherwood



Series: 2020 Fest Headcanons [3]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Character Study, Eve Moneypenny & Q Friendship, FTM!Q, Fluff, Headcanon, M/M, Non-Graphic Use of Needles, Tattoos, Trans Male Character, top surgery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:54:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/christinefromsherwood/pseuds/christinefromsherwood
Summary: July 4th is Q’s favourite day of the year. He looks forward to it more than Christmas, Easter, his birthday or Halloween.It’s for no particular reason other than that July 4th has just always gone great for him ever since he could remember.It was on July 4th in uni that he found a mistake in his professor’s code (mistake that she had been searching for for two days), got extra credit and while celebrating out with friends hooked up with Tom, who went on to be the best boyfriend Q’d ever had then.
Relationships: James Bond/Q
Series: 2020 Fest Headcanons [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816660
Comments: 10
Kudos: 41
Collections: 007 Fest Fancreations





	On July 4th

**Author's Note:**

> written for _Trans Characters Day_
> 
> written for the _Prompt Table: Fluff - Competence Kink_ and the _Anon Prompt#73, 007 Fest 2018_ \- “James finds out that Q knows how to do tattoos and asks for one because he’s just that intrigued - bonus points if he leaves the design entirely up to Q because he trusts him”
> 
>  **warnings/tags/general information:** this is a headcanon about FTM!Q, it mentions top surgery and injecting testosterone and tattoos. I am very grateful to @anyawen and Kira for their sensitivity reading. It has been deemed safe and nice, but triggers and stuff are different for everyone, so proceed with caution.
> 
> @quillwritten recommended [this post](https://marewriteblr.tumblr.com/post/622721673116925952/dotsz-i-wanna-see-trans-rep-where-the-characters) on trans representation to me when I struggled for a way to grasp this topic. I’ve tried to write my FTM!Q headcanon in that image within the limits of my chosen genre. I hope you enjoy it. 🤗

July 4th is Q’s favourite day of the year. He looks forward to it more than Christmas, Easter, his birthday or Halloween. 

It’s for no particular reason other than that July 4th has just always gone great for him ever since he could remember.

It was on July 4th in uni that he found a mistake in his professor’s code (mistake that she had been searching for for two days), got extra credit and while celebrating out with friends hooked up with Tom, who went on to be the best boyfriend Q’d ever had then.

It was on July 4th that John told Q he’d be a first class tattoo artist if he could ever tear himself away from his computer, before finishing colouring the red poppy watercolour on his left arm. (John didn’t give him a discount on that, even though they were sleeping together at the time, but he did mercifully refuse to tattoo a very cringy song lyric with a J+Q heart on his calf. Q was _eternally_ grateful.) 

And sure, his top surgery had been scheduled for the 3rd, but it was on the 4th that he woke up and was actually aware enough to realize that it had really happened, that he didn’t have to deal with the stress of having breasts and the hassle of binding, and that he could wear _skin-tight T-shirts_. Moneypants had actually bought him a nerdy graphic tank top that said: **HOLY SHIFT! Look at the asymptote on that mother function!** even though she clearly had no idea what it meant, and he’d cried he was so happy.

Major Boothroyd noticed him fiddling with the sights of some long range rifles on his lunch break on July 4th, and decided to take him away from the slog of logging trouble tickets and put him on rotation through the whole branch. Q believes this was what ultimately led to him being the best choice to replace him when Silva attacked the Riverside building.

Plus, Q knows for a fact that there have been multiple Julies 4th when he’d first discovered his favourite dishes, cocktails, and the best jogging route in all of London!

July 4th has just always been a great day, and Q has no doubt that the one in 2015 will be no different. 

Granted, he wakes up earlier than he’d like to the sound of his calendar making sure he doesn’t forget to take his dose of T. But by the time he finishes his injection routine, James is already in the kitchen putting the kettle on the stove and _making tea_.

And Q suddenly realizes that they _both_ actually have a reason to be up early today because it’s finally a day neither of them is required at the office, and James has been looking forward to his tattoo so much. 

Q still shivers at the memory of the look in James’s eyes when he saw Q’s ink for the first time. Remembering how James looked at him, when he found out that Q had training as tattoo artist himself, is actually one of his favourite pastimes when James is off on a mission, and he’s alone at night. 

James apparently has a thing for Q being good at things–Q had no idea what his comment in the National Gallery about doing damage in his pyjamas would unleash: once he found out about Q and tattoos, he insisted he wanted Q to design one for him, even if he didn’t want to do it himself. (Like hell was Q going to let anyone else ink his designs!) 

And today, July 4th, is the day! 

James has been taking fewer and fewer missions in the field and there’s no need to worry about distinct markings on a spy, who is supposed to be as unremarkable as possible. (Though, that is one aspect of espionage that James Bond never seemed to go for anyway.)

Q took his time with the design and it is spectacular. He’s sure James is going to love it. 

Well, he’ll have to. Since it was he who insisted on not knowing what it was until Q had actually finished the outlines. Q suspects he gets off on it. 

That’s fair. 

Because Q had decided on the tattoo placement almost immediately for entirely selfish reasons. 

James’s geometric stag will go on his right shoulder blade right where Q likes to kiss him first thing on those rare mornings he wakes up before him.


End file.
